Filling devices are known in the art in which particular support elements are connected with a continuous drive chain through which they are run continuously through the filling device along the upper main element, the lower main element and the lateral main elements.
These filling devices have been in use for decades. A chain drive, however, has many disadvantages. One of the essential disadvantages is that a chain elongation during operation not only requires frequent readjustment but additionally requires separate positioning at each of the operating stations acting upon the containers.
For this reason and for other reasons, theoretical concepts have been developed for quite some time in which a chain drive device can be omitted.
Drives without chains for filling devices for food products have not really caught on in the marketplace, however, there are already a few functional systems that operate reliably.
A device of this type is known e.g. from EP 1 495 997 A1. In this document various concepts for implementing a chainless feed of support elements through a filling device for food products is described. They all have in common that the support elements with their respective faces arranged transversal to the feed direction and oriented towards one another are arranged at one another and are thus pushed through the filling device. The drive in EP 1 495 997 A1 can be provided e.g. through a piston operating in a linear manner and engaging recesses of the support elements. It is alternatively proposed to provide a drive wheel in a transition between the lower main element and the upper element wherein the drive wheel engages drive elements which are arranged below the support elements. Also a worm gear is illustrated in EP 1 495 997 A1.
In a chainless filling device for food products, the alternative drive concept has a particular significance. Filling devices of this type are operated at up to 60 cycles per minute which means that the support elements perform a feed movement in as little as one second. Consequently it is important to provide a controlled acceleration of the support elements, but also a controlled deceleration of the support elements through a respective drive concept. Thus, the configuration of the support element itself is important since the particular support elements do not enter an interconnection anymore that is caused through the drive device like e.g. a chain.